Draft attachment for harness.



W. W. WOODPILL. DRAFT ATTADHMENT FOR HARNESS. APPLICATION FILEDsBPT.'27, 1909.

970,590. Patented sept` 2o, 1910.

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WHITE W. WOODFILL, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

DRAFT ATTACHMENT FOR HARNESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 27, 1909.

Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

Serial No. 519,769.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVniTn IV. VooDrILL, citizen of the United States,residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Draft Attachments forHarness, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the improvement of draft attachments for harnessand the objects of my invention are to provide an improved harnessattaclnnent, by means of which a vehicle may be drawn withoutundesirable jolt or shock thereto, resulting from sudden increase in thespeed of the horse, and by means of which the horse is relieved of theusual starting strain; to so construct my improved harness attachment asto obviate the necessity of employing the usual harness tugs or tracesand to produce other improvements, the details of which will be morefully pointed out hereinafter. These objects I accomplish in the mannerillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is aperspective view of my harness attachment, showino' the same in connection with a portion of1 the harness. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectionon line .r :o of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line y yofFig. 2, and Fig. 4 isl a detail view perspective of a portion of avehicle shaft, showing my improved attaching device thereon.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In carrying out my invention I employ a casting body 1 of a generaloblong form, said body being formed on its outer side with an outwardlyprojecting portion 2, in the front and rear sides of which are formedopposing vertical channels or recesses 3. The outer flanges 3, whichresult from the production of the channels 3, are formed in their lowerportions with the forwardly and rearwardly projecting shoulders 3",indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawing. The rearwardly extending portion ofthe body 1 has the outer face of its upper portion recessed or reducedin thickness, as indicated at l. The lower portion of this recessedmember ln is projected outwardly to form a horizontal channel 1b, saidchannel having its forward end communicating with a socket continuationthereof, which is formed in the lower portion of the body 1 and which isindicated at 1. lVith the upper side of the body 1 is formed an upwardlyprojecting transverse housing 4, within the inner end portion of whichis formed a partition 4, through a central opening in which passes thesteln of a bolt 5, the head of said bolt, which is indicated at 5, beingthus retained on the inner side of said partition 4, The outer threadedportion of the bolt stem is engaged with the inwardly projectinghorizontal member of an angular latch piece (3, this latch piece havingits outer portion normally projected beyond the outer side of the body 1by 4pressure of a spring 7, which is coiled about the bolt 5 and whichbears between the partition 4 and the inner end of the horizontal lowermember of the latch piece (3. Formed lengthwise through the thickerportion of the body 1 and extending beneath the housing 4, is a bore orguideway S, in which is mounted slidably a hori- Zontal pin 9, theforward end ofwhich, on the outer side of the body l, is provided with ahead 10. The rear portion of the pin, which normally extends at adistance in rear of the body 1, has secured thereto the upper portion ofa downwardly extending arm 11, the lower portion of said arm beingprovided with a forwardly extending pin 11a. About said pin is arrangedthe rear end portion of a horizontal coil spring 12, the rear portion ofsaid spring lying in the channel 1b and the forward portion thereofextending within the easing or socket member 1c against the closed endof which said spring bears. As will be understood, the spring 12 servesto retain the pin 9 in its rearmost position. Secured to the lowerportion of the outer face of the casting body 1 is the lower end of anupwardly extending and inwardly curved spring strip 13.

14 represents the usual back band and girth-connecting strap, said strapbein" se* cured to the rear side of the casting body 1, preferably bymeans of a clamping member 15, which is held in connection with the body1 by a screw 16. I also connect with the rear portion of the castingbody 1 a rearwardly extending harness strap 17 which is connected in adesirable manner with the breeching of the harness. Formed with one sideof the head 10, which is secured to the forward end of the bolt 9, is aforwardly extending clamping tongue 10a. To the outer face of thistongue is secured, through the medium of screws 1S and a detachableclamping plate 19, the rear end portion of a forwardly extending breastcollar strap 20.

21 represents a portion of one of the vehicle shafts, said shafts beingdesigned to extend on the outer sides of the casting body 1. Each of theshafts 21 has secured to its inner face a keeper plate 22, the latterbeing in the nature of an elongated plate or bar body, from the innerface of which, and on opposite sides of the center of its length,project hook-like tongues 23. In connecting the shafts with the castingbody 1 on opposite sides of the horse, the shafts are first elevated andthen lowered, and in their downward movement, the tongues 23, at theshaft plates 22, enter the channels or recesses 3 of the body 1, saidtongues thus engaging the flange projections 3a of said body and thecontact of the tongues with the shoulders 3'), serving to limit thedownward movement of the shafts. It will be understood, however, that inthe operation of lowering the shafts they will contact with the roundedfaces of the outwardly projecting portions of the latch members 6,resulting in the latter being pressed inwardly until flush with theouter faces of the casting bodies, and also resulting in a compressionof the springs 7 rThe shaft having been lowered sufficiently, it will beunderstood that the tension of the springs 7 will result in againforcing the latch pieces 6 outward, in which positions they will project above the shaft plates 22 and prevent an acci dental upward movementof the shafts. When the parts are in the position just described, it isobvious that the outwardly bent springs 13 will exert spring pressureagainst the shaft plates 22 and operate to prevent any undesirablevibration or rattling of the parts.

From the construction and operation which I have described, it will bereadily understood that in the initial forward pull on the breast collarstraps 20, produced by Vthe starting of the horse, the pins 9 will become as the horse moves forward. In this manner it is obvious that inboth the starting and stopping movement of the horse, and in cases wheresudden resistance is offered to the forward movement of the vehicle,both the horse and the occupants of the vehicle will be relieved fromthe shock or jolt which might otherwise be occasioned.

It is evident that the shafts may be readily disengaged from my improvedharness attachment body by first pressing the latch members 6 inward,then raising the shafts until the plate hooks 23 are disengaged from thecasting body 1.

I claim- In a device of the character described, the combination with adraft body secured to the back and girth straps of harness, said bodyhaving an outwardly projecting T-shaped portion, of a connecting memberrigidly se cured to a shaft of a vehicle and adapted to fit over saidT-shaped extension, a horizontally disposed spring actuated latchnormally tending to be projected outwardly to overlie said member, a pinslidably disposed within said draft body, a breast strap fiXedly securedto one end of said pin and projecting forwardly from the dra-ft body, astrap secured to the draft body and projecting rearwardly from saiddraft body, a lateral extension upon one end of the pin, and a springdisposed between said extension and the draft body, said spring lyingwithin a housing formed by said draft body.

In testimony whereof I afIiX signature in presence of two witnesses.

WHITE W. VOODFIL. .1.

Vitnesses C. C. SHEPHERD, JOSEPH N. EAGLEsoN.

